Simplicity is A Hard Subject to Grasp
by Blissful Dufus
Summary: Tamaki wished his life was simpler. Haruhi struggled to keep her life simple. Then, at Tamaki's 35th birthday party, both of them learn exactly how hard a subject simplicity is to grasp. :: [TamaHaru]
1. Story Intro

**Story Intro**

**Summary:** Tamaki wished his life was simpler. Haruhi struggled to keep her life simple. Then, at Tamaki's 35th birthday party, both of them learn exactly how hard a subject simplicity is to grasp.

**Pairing:** TamaHaru

**Table of Contents**

Chapter 1 - A Simple Dinner and The Complicated Library

Chapter 2 - A Great Complexity

Chapter 3, Part 1 - Lovely

Chapter 3, Part 2 - Typical

Chapter 4 - _PENDING_


	2. Simple Dinner and Complicated Library

**Chapter 1 : A Simple Dinner and The Complicated Library**

It took many years for him to finally figure himself out. It wasn't until Tamaki was 35 that he asked Haruhi out for dinner. He had never had to strength to ask her out. Sure, he had asked to her dinner before. Even the movies. But, these dinners and movie-goings were gatherings, not dates. Quite simply, the rest of the Host Club would accompany the two. This now was a real date that he was asking her out on. And of course, it was terribly hard for him to conjure up the right words.

-::-

_Wanna go out with the boys and me? NO! It's gotta be just me! The boys can help me anymore!_

Tamaki paced back and forth in his bedroom; nibbling on his lower lip, and fiddling with his blonde hair, grunting every so often in irritation.

_Wanna go out for dinner sometime? NO! It's gotta be more sincere! It can't be so straightforward! I was a Host, gosh darnit!_

At the moment, the former Host King was in quite a pickle. For 17 years now, he had known Haruhi. And for 16 of those 17 years, he had wanted to ask her out on a date. At the least, just a simple dinner, at a simple place, with simple food, for a simple price. Nothing expensive and nothing cheap. In the middle, and pleasantly simple.

Or, at least he thought it was pleasantly simple. It was not, however. It was quite the contrary. It was an irritatingly difficult predicament he was in, trying to find the perfect way to ask. At least for him, it was irritatingly difficult. Any normal person would take 16 years of thinking as preperation to propose to someone, not to ask someone out on a simple date. But, as you should know, Tamaki wasn't a normal person. He was a Drama King. No, wait, let me rephrase that. He was **the** Drama King. He blew everything way out of proportion and got far more dramatic than was necessary.

He marched left...then right...then left...and so on and so on, deep in thought; totally lost in the _library_ that was his vocabularly, searching desperately for the right _books_ to _read_ to Haruhi. That is, until a knock came on the door. He stopped himself in the middle of a stride, and jerked his head towards the door.

"Tamaki! You better hurry or everyone's gonna start the party without you!" came Haruhi's voice from the other side of the door.

Tamaki melted at the sound of her voice. It was gentle and sweet. He found his way out of the library.

"Just a moment, dear," he called back to Haruhi; not thinking before he spoke. When he realized what he had just done, calling Haruhi "dear", he tumbled back into his library to find a cover-up.

Haruhi stood on the other side of the door, quite surprised and greatly dumbfounded. _Did he just call me "dear"?_

She felt her cheeks grow warmer as she took a step back from the door. Haruhi, much like Tamaki, was in a bit of a pickle herself. For 17 years, she had known Tamaki. And for 10 of those 17 years, she had meant to ask him out on a date. But, she never did.

It wasn't something she typically worried about; her looks and the shape of her body. And thankfully, it wasn't something she needed to worry about when trying to court a man like Tamaki. This was a thankful thing because Haruhi's body hadn't developed anywhere past 5 feet and an A cup. And she made it a point to cut her hair boy-short whenever it reached her shoulders. So, she still looked very much like she did in high school. This wasn't at all what discouraged her or kept her from asking Tamaki out on a date.

Of course Haruhi never really gave gender much of a second thought. The only thought that she every really had involving gender was that she was a female. She never thought about gender stereotypes, and never did she let them hold her back. So, obviously, she didn't feel uneasy to ask Tamaki because she thought it odd for a girl to ask a guy out on a date.

Another thing she didn't very dawdle over was her personality. But, when she was about 20 years old, she realized how rude she could be sometimes. After this analysis, the only aspect of her personality she every observed was her rudeness. She never took notice in the fact that quite often her rudeness was just her being blunt, straightforward and honest. Haruhi also ignored her many positive personality attributes; attributes including her straightforwardness and honesty.

Because she only focused on her rudeness, Haruhi was always sure that she couldn't ask Tamaki out on a date. She was sure she'd say something rude, or ask him improperly. And so, for ten years, she had held back and tried to forget her desire.

But, now she heard Tamaki call her "dear". She felt her heart leap up to her throat, plummet down to her belly and fall back into place between her lungs.

"Pardon?" was all she could think to say in reply.

Tamaki was particularly flustered now that she had replied. He began to wave his arms about and jump up and down. He didn't reply. The only noise he made was a low, quiet whining sound that Haruhi couldn't have heard from the other side of the door.

"Tamaki, are you alright?" Haruhi asked as she grew terribly worried. She gently knocked on the door. "Can I come in?" she asked, not knowing what else she could possibly do.

Tamaki grew even more flustered at all these questions _(only two questions, actually)_ Haruhi was asking. But of course, she was worried. It's not like she could just ignore her again. And he was perfectly decent, all dressed in his suit, so it wouldn't do any harm to let her come in. "Y-yes, you may!"

Haruhi was relieved to finally hear him reply. Although she was relieved, she was also nervous to go into his bedroom. No, no, no, she wasn't having any dirty thoughts! She just didn't know if she could stand him. But, he had already confirmed that she could enter, so she couldn't just leave now. That would be rude. She turned the knob as dramatically and slowly as possible, as a manner of stalling. Then, she pushed the door open with an equally slow and dramatic sweep of her arm.

_OH MY GOODNESS._

He hadn't seen her at all that evening, so of course, Tamaki hadn't seen Haruhi all dressed up as she was. He very rarely saw her like this, and when he did, her beauty was terribly suffocating. At this particular moment, it was so suffocating that he felt he'd never breath again. This would be a terrible waste, however. So, he made sure to breath.

"Hello," is all he could mutter when she entered the room. He motioned for Haruhi to sit in a chair at the opposite side of the room from him.

"Hello," is all she could mutter in return. She followed his motion to the chair, and sat down, making sure _not_ to close the door as she entered the room.

Tamaki's bedroom was shockingly large, and so, the two were spread very far apart being at opposite ends of the room. Either way, Haruhi proceeded to talk _(loudly)_ with him.

"So, uh, why did you call me 'dear'?" she asked him, still quite perplexed _(and awkwardly delighted) _by the fact that he had called her 'dear'.

Tamaki gulped. He had totally forgotten about that when he saw Haruhi all dressed up, so when it came back to him, he was terribly shocked. "Ah, well, what I had meant was 'dearest daughter'. Thing is, all I could say was 'dear' before I tripped over Kuma-chan." Despite his shock, however, he was able to come up with an excuse.

Thankfully for him, Haruhi was too distracted by Tamaki's appearance to really consider how strange that explanation sounded.

Tamaki was dressed up much more often than Haruhi was, and so, it's not that Haruhi wasn't used to it. In fact, when he was dressed up, he was only slightly more beautiful than he was than when he was dressed down. It's just that, Haruhi had been holding herself back because of her terrible _rudeness_. So, whenever Tamaki seemed just a tiny bit more beautiful than usual, Haruhi would remember her feelings, and feel suffocated by them.

Since she was so distracted, all she said in response was, "Oh."

The two were soon at a loss of words. They sat in silence for over 10 minutes. They stayed this way until _someone _appeared at the door.

"Tamaki-chan, everyone's waiting for you guys downstairs!" _someone_ demanded from the doorway. "And Mama, they just brought out the ootoro."

Swiftly and in unison, Tamaki and Haruhi turned their heads towards _someone_. This _someone _was Haruhi's adopted daughter, Ko.

Ko leaned on the framing of the doorway, and starred at her beautiful mother for a moment. "Mama, we wouldn't wanna waste your magnificent beauty! It would be sinful to let Tamaki-chan keep you all to himself!" she said dramatically, as she suddenly leaped across the room towards her mother.

Haruhi found herself wisked out of her chair and across the room as her daughter grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

"My precious Mama shouldn't sit in silence either! No need to keep your lovely voice locked up!" Ko demanded, as she continued to pull Haruhi along; quite quickly, may I add.

Haruhi shot a bitter look at Tamaki and mouthed the words, "Are you sure she isn't your daughter?"

Tamaki chuckled, and nodded his head with a large grin about his face as he sat up.

Ko and Haruhi were already halfway down the stairs by the time Tamaki reached the door. Ko was a very fast girl; the fastest on her school's track team.

Tamaki made his way down the stairs slowly and elegantly, as was his nature. He reached the top of the last set of steps and looked out over the floor of his main entertainment hall, where all his guests were mingling and chatting casually. In order to gain everyone's attention, he simply clapped his hands. Everyone's heads swung towards the top of the steps where Tamaki stood. Everyone, that is, except Haruhi, who was far too absorb in eating ootoro.

Tamaki cleared his throat, straightened his jacket, and looked at a certain someone in the crowd. Little Haruhi, stuffing her face with ootoro. He chuckled some, before he cleared his throat again. "I have an important...announcement... of sorts." At this, everyone became greatly filled with anticipation. Tamaki cleared his throat once more, straightened his jacket again, and fixed his tie. "Miss Haruhi Fujioka..," he began, finally diverting Haruhi's attention away from the platter of ootoro.

"Yes, Tamaki?" she called back to him from across the room. Everyone swung their heads away from Tamaki and towards Haruhi.

For some reason, this made Tamaki nervous. But, he couldn't stop now. During his slow, elegant walk down the stairs, he had finally found the right words; the right _books_ in the _library_. It had taken him so long, and he couldn't back out now. He cleared his throat another final time. "Miss Haruhi Fujioka, would you be interested in accompanying me on a simple dinner date?"

Haruhi was taken aback by Tamaki's sudden dinner date proposal. But, not only was she surprised; she was terribly elated. So, she made her way through the large crowd, carefully edging through the enormous group of guests. When she made it to the bottom of the stairs, she paused, straightened her dress, and walked slowly and elegantly up the stairs to stand two steps away from Tamaki. "Mister Tamaki Suoh..," she began.

Tamaki was terribly nervous. He didn't know how Haruhi would respond, and the two of them were terribly close together. "Y-yes, Haruhi?"

Haruhi smiled gently at Tamaki. "Mister Tamaki Suoh, I'd be utterly delighted to accompany you on a simple dinner date."


	3. Great Complexity

**Chapter 2: A Great Complexity**

Ko Fujioka. 13 years old. Her body was petite and graceful. Strands of her honey hair set gently about her sweet face, making her large lavender eyes seem somewhat smaller. Her extremely long peanut hair was strung up in two large ponytails on either side of her head. Even in these ponytails, her long hair still fell down to a great length; these ponytails reached her rear-end. All this, often dressed in clothes of bright pinks, greens and purples, gave Ko Fujioka, a blooming teenage girl, the appearance of a beginning-to-bloom preteen girl. And not in the least did it bother her when people suspected she was 10 or 11 years old. Some people even thought she was 8 or 9. Even this young was perfectly reasonable because Ko's chest still hadn't begun to develop. It was _flat_. Not flat, as in particularly small. It was flat, as in _perfectly flat_. Ko was perfectly aware of this all, and perfectly fine with it too. She didn't strive to look older. She took pride in her childish appearance. And quite strangely, she wasn't the only one. Tamaki Suoh delighted himself to tears over Ko's child-like attributes. He loved Ko dearly, like a father would love a daughter. This fatherly love developed over time because Tamaki was often the one in charge of 'baby-sitting' Ko whenever Haruhi had to go to an important meeting or go on an important trip.

There was even one time when Haruhi had to go on a business trip. Ko, who was 11 at the time, stayed with Tamaki for the five days her mother was gone. Tamaki had demanded that Ko did not stay at his mansion. He suggested, rather, that, "I should stay in your lovely little apartment! I wouldn't want Ko to feel uncomfortable."

Haruhi and Ko found no objections to this idea. But of course, since Ko and Tamaki would be staying in the Fujioka's apartment, Ko would have to cook. And clean. And do the laundry. Haruhi, who usually didn't have Ko do chores, found this idea to be objectionable. However, Ko, yet again, found no objections to this idea.

For some strange reason, she enjoyed doing menial chores, and very much wanted to do them. She also didn't want her mother staying home just for her. She _certainly_ didn't want Tamaki doing all these things. And she couldn't bare the thought of having one of Tamaki's maids go to all the trouble to come to the apartment just for her (and Tamaki). Haruhi at least tried to find a compromise; proposing that perhaps one of Tamaki's maids only came every other day, or that Tamaki would help with some smaller chores. Ko refused. However, Haruhi wasn't going to let her daughter do all these chores by herself, so she pressed the hardest she could to get Ko to agree with her.

Unfortunately for Haruhi, her stubborn blonde daughter continued to refuse her moth, and soon feel into a toil of despair, claiming that her mother found her "unsuitable and unable to operate on a sufficient and exceptional level". Ko was being terribly over-dramatic and stubborn and Haruhi hadn't the foggiest idea as to what to do. For a point, she planned to just stay behind. Her daughter was delicate, and Haruhi always made sure to care for her a great deal. Somewhere along the line, Haruhi went from caring to over-dramatic and over-protective, for probably the first time in her life. Ko obviously meant alot to her, to make her over-react for the first time in her life.

Haruhi was ready to just stay back from the trip, even if it meant losing a really nice big paycheck. That is, she was ready to stay, until Ko gave her _**the**__ eyes_. They were _**the**__ eyes _that Tamaki would use back in their high school years, when they were in the Host Club. How Ko had learned about the effectiveness of these eyes was beyond Haruhi's comprehension. Either way, Haruhi fell victim to the powers of _**the**__ eyes_, and finally decided that Ko could do the chores while Haruhi was gone. Ko was delighted, and nearly tossed Haruhi out the door on her way to leave.

Ko was close with not only her mother and Tamaki. She also had a tight bond with the other Host Club boys.

Hikaru and Kaoru would often dress her up in adorable frilly dresses; keeping in mind the fact that she only ever wore pink, green, and purple.

Honey would have tea parties with her; Ko always drank her tea as elegantly as possible when in the presence of a wealthy indiviual, even if she was familiar with them.

Mori used to teach Ko kendo, but Haruhi soon pulled Ko away from these lessons, finding them far too dangerous for such a young girl. So, Ko didn't get to see Mori that much; only when he baby-sat her, which wasn't very often.

Kyouya gave Ko a laptop for her 10th birthday, and for some time, he taught her how to use it properly. Of course, this would only take so long, so, much like with Mori, Ko didn't spend much time with Kyouya; only when he baby-sat.

Whenever she spent time with any of the boys, she'd give them a card as thanks for spending time with her.

But, she never gave Tamaki cards. Only on his birthday. He was much too like a father to her for her to give him cards for spending time with her. It would be an awkward practice, for a daughter to give her father thank you cards for spending time with her. Such a practice would imply that he was a neglectful father, who very rarely spent time with his daughter. Of course, going this far was blowing everything way out of proportion. Because Tamaki and Ko's father-daughter relationship was simply a fabrication, or rather, a set of fabrications, from the minds of Tamaki and Ko. So, it really wouldn't have been strange for Ko to give him cards. It just seemed _wrong_ to her.

All the time she spent with Tamaki made her act more and more like him. All that time spent with him also made Ko's odd _physical _resemblance to him more and more noticeable as well.For this reason, Haruhi had a tendency to ask Tamaki if Ko was his child. And each time, Tamaki chuckled joyfully, and shook his head.

-::-

Now, where, you may ask, did Ko come from? Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each very much...wait, what? Oh, you already know that. Ok, ok.

Ko's father, for some strange reason, started to go crazy after he found out his wife, Ko's mother, was pregnant. Doctors said the source of his sudden mental illness is unknown. Though, most doctors had suspected the source was the anxiety of knowing he was going to be a father. But even then, the depth of his illness was too serious to bloom from simple anxiety. No one really knew the source, and this drove him all the more insane. It was quite unfortunate, then, when he had to be put into a mental hospital. It was sad that he wouldn't be able to see his baby girl, Ko, be brought into the world. But, at the same time, it was a positive thing that he wouldn't be able to witness his dearest wife die after giving birth to Ko.

Ko's father was obviously unsuitable to be Ko's guardian, being mentally ill. This left only grandparents, aunts and uncles to care for Ko. All but one of her grandparents were dead, and the one that was alive was far too elderly and sickly to care for a child. And both of Ko's parents hadn't any siblings, therefore, Ko had no aunts or uncles. So, her parents' lawyer decided Ko be placed in an orphanage. But, considering the fact that Ko's mother died giving birth to Ko, it could be safely assumed that Ko's mother was not exactly healthy. And so, neither was Ko. Ko had to stay at the hospital for some time before going to the orphanage, because she was too fragile and sickly. But, after 5 months of great care and nursing, Ko had reached the state of a healthy normal baby.

Ko only spent 7 months of her life in the orphanage. On her 1st birthday, one of the caretakers at the orphanage was feeding Ko a small piece of cake, when one of the adoption managers entered the room.

"A mother has been found for Ko," the adoption manager said simply. As simply as she said this, there was nothing _simple_ about the way she looked at the caretaker. She looked at the caretaker very sympathetically and sorrowfully.

The caretaker had an expression of pure defeat about her face. This caretaker, Mono Nakamura, had grown attached to Ko over the last 7 months, even if she knew she shouldn't have. She knew this would happen, but either way, it hurt when she heard the words, "A mother has been found for Ko."

Mono nodded reluctantly. "So, I should pack her things then. When is she coming?"

The adoption manager sighed deeply. "Her name is Haruhi Fujioka. She will come noon tomorrow."

Mono felt tears welling in her eyes. She could let the manager know she was sat. So, she quickly shooed the adoption manager out of the room, just in time to start crying when the manager left. Ko didn't know what was going on, being but an innocent child, but she too cried, unaware as to why it was she was crying.

The next day at noon, Miss Haruhi Fujioka arrived at the orphanage, just like the adoption manager had said. As Mono saw the petite, lovely women walk cheerfully out of the orphanage, she couldn't help but start to cry. But this time, she wasn't crying because she was sad to leave Ko. Now she was happy to leave Ko. Because she would be leaving Ko in gentle, caring hands.

Ko was too young to remember any of this; her parents, her early life in the hospital, or her happy time spent at the orphanage. And Haruhi was oblivious to it all. The only thing she knew was that Ko somehow ended up in the orphanage. She didn't know Ko's father was mentally ill, or that Ko's mother died. She didn't know that Ko was born very sickly. She didn't know about the caretaker, Mono. She knew nothing. All she knew was that this child was now her daughter, and she'd have to do everything in her power to make this child happy.

And making this particular child happy was much _simpler _than she thought it would be.

-::-

Although Haruhi had wanted to keep her life simple and Tamaki wished his life was simpler, the both of them got themselves involved with Ko, who was indeed a great complexity.

**NOTE**: I know this chapter is really short, but it's not really a full-blown chapter. It's just here to briefly explain the character of Ko, because so far, all I've explained is that she is Haruhi's adopted daughter. I just thought I should clear that all up. Oh yeah, and sorry if Ko is a Mary-Sue. It certainly wasn't intended, though, I don't think Mary-Sues are every intended.

-awkward- ... -pause-

Heh heh...uh well, if she is a Mary-Sue, just tell me in your review, and I'll try to tone her down a bit. :3


	4. Lovely, Typical

**Chapter 3, Part 1 - Lovely**

_... "Miss Haruhi Fujioka, would you be interested in accompanying me on a simple dinner date?"_

_Haruhi was taken aback by Tamaki's sudden dinner date proposal. But, not only was she surprised; she was terribly elated. So, she made her way through the large crowd, carefully edging through the enormous group of guests. When she made it to the bottom of the stairs, she paused, straightened her dress, and walked slowly and elegantly up the stairs to stand two steps away from Tamaki. "Mister Tamaki Suoh..," she began._

_Tamaki was terribly nervous. He didn't know how Haruhi would respond, and the two of them were terribly close together. "Y-yes, Haruhi?"_

_Haruhi smiled gently at Tamaki. "Mister Tamaki Suoh, I'd be utterly delighted to accompany you on a simple dinner date." ..._

-::--::-

Simple. It seemed no matter how hard she tried, Haruhi just couldn't keep her life perfectly simple. Tamaki tried his hardest too, to make everything simple, and he too, failed in doing so. Even their "simple" dinner date couldn't be simple.

It had started out simple enough. It took place in a simple restaurant with simply delicious food, for a simple and fair price. Haruhi wore a simple white dress, and Tamaki wore a simple black suit. It was simple, just like they had planned. They chatted with each other simply, and joked with each other simply. They were have a simply wonderful time. That is, until a certain someone burst into the restaurant.

"Mama!" Ko screamed as she bulleted towards her mother. "Mama, Mama! Oji-chan-tachi(&)...they've done something terribly obscene! They...they wanted me to wear a bi--" Here she stopped abruptly, and leaned in towards Haruhi's ear. "A bikini," she whispered.

Although she whispered this to Haruhi, Tamaki still overheard. And, quite frankly, he was outraged to hear that Hikaru and Kaoru tried to do something so obscene to his dearest Ko-chan! "I will defintely not stand for this!" Tamaki wasn't even thinking clearly. He was very much protective of Ko, like he used to be of Haruhi. And the twins messed around with him by doing dirty things to Ko, like they used to do with Haruhi. Except, he acted even more irrationally now because Ko actually minded when they did these things. Haruhi usually didn't mind all that much, back when Hikaru and Kaoru harassed her to upset Tamaki, but now, Ko really did mind. She minded so much to RUN all the way to the restaurant BY HERSELF and burst into the restaurant like a WILD ANIMAL and nearly tackle her mother to the ground.

So, of course Tamaki would be at least a little more protective. He pretty much forgot the fact that he was on a date with Haruhi; the date he had been waiting for for so long. He took Ko by the hand, making sure his grasp was tight, and stormed out of the restaurant with her.

"Lovely." Haruhi sat at the table all by herself now. And for some reason, she wasn't disappointed by this sudden interruption. Because, quite simply, Tamaki had already paid the bill. She smirked to herself with this thought. So, perhaps she really was upset. But, she thought the sight of Tamaki being so protective of her child was an ample compensation for her disappointment. She giggled at this thought. She grabbed her jacket and purse, straightened her dress, and left the restaurant casually. She knew Tamaki would have the situation under control, so she could take her time.

-::-

"Complete and utter blasphemy! That's what this is! Really! I'm ashamed!"

Ko held onto the hem of Tamaki's shirt tightly, near tears. She had been this way for most of Tamaki's lecture, keeping herself perfectly silent, but, now, she just had to speak up.

"Uh, Tamaki-chan. This isn't blasphemy. I'm not an object of godly or sacred signifigance," she explained to Tamaki his vocabulary error.

Tamaki looked down at Ko and frowned. "Well goodness, if you're so smart, why don't scold them!? Besides, haven't you heard of an hyperbole!?" he yelled at her. He was in the middle of an emotional rampage, and he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing.

Tears welled up in Ko's eyes, and she grabbed onto Tamaki's shirt tighter. "I-I'm sorry, Tamaki-chan. I-I-I didn't mean to come off as a s-s-sm-smart mouth. D-do you hate me now?" It was here that she looked up at Tamaki with her big teary lavender eyes, purposely tilting her head to the side to add extra "innocent points".

The look on Ko's face caused tears to well in Tamaki's eyes. He knelt bent down to Ko's height, and gave her a tight hug. "No, no, no, I'm sorry Ko-chan! I didn't mean what I said! Of course I don't hate you!" The two embraced; tears pouring from their eyes like waterfalls.

Hikaru and Kaoru sat on the couch, watching this touching little scene with expressions of (mock) compassion.

"These two MUST be related, ne, Kaoru?" Hikaru whispered, nudging Kaoru lightly.

Kaoru nodded. "I know what you mean. They're both so overly dramatic. But..." He paused, and pointed towards Ko's crying face. "...Ko-chan is far too cute to be related to Tamaki."

Hikaru agreed. "Yeah. She's cute as Haruhi was in high school. That's the only reason we wanted to dress her in a bikini. Gosh...," it was here that he paused and raised his voice so Tamaki could hear, "Tamaki's just so darn overprotective."

Right then, Haruhi walked through the door. "Well, yes, he is," she agreed to Hikaru's statement, hanging her jacket on the hook beside the door.

Tamaki unlocked his arms from around Ko and looked up at Hikaru angrily. Then turned his head towards Haruhi, shocked that she would agree to the fact that he was overprotective. "B-but Haruhi...," he pleaded, fresh tears welling in his eyes. Ko was confused, but persisted to cling onto Tamaki's shirt.

Haruhi giggled and walked over to Tamaki. "That's what makes him so cute," she said, petting his hair.

-::-

The situation pertaining to "the twins' "obscene acts towards my dearest Ko-chan", as Tamaki put it, was soon taken care of by our dependable litte heroine, Haruhi. They were asked not to dress or attempt to dress Ko in bathing suits, as well as undergarments and lingerie. The mentioning of undergarments and lingerie caused the twins to snicker and grin devilishly. But, despite their devilish grinning and snickering, the twins agreed to this request, afraid of what Haruhi might do if they decided to disobey her.

Both Tamaki and Haruhi were disappointed that their date had been cut short. But, Tamaki promised he'd be over the next morning for breakfast. And of course, Haruhi couldn't refuse. The idea of treating Tamaki to breakfast and/or watching him try to make breakfast himself seemed utterly delightful.

**Ampersand-Land**

(&)Oji-chan-tachi. This would refer to the twins. It's meaning is somewhat hard to explain, but, I suppose the simplest way to explain it is by saying it means Uncles.

**-::--::--::--::--::-**

**Chapter 3, Part 2 - Typical**

It seemed that, at night, Haruhi and Ko switched characters. Haruhi became far more emotional, and Ko's usual enthusiasm calmed considerably. This statement was greatly expressed this particular night.

"Simple dinner date! Pftt! That was pretty complicated for a simple dinner date," Haruhi complained to her daughter. She and Ko were sitting on Haruhi's bed watching movies and eating burnt kettle corn; Haruhi complaining about the complicated events of that day. Ko giggled to see her mother complaining. Her mother usually wouldn't complain like this, and Ko found it very enjoyable.

"Yes, yes, Mama, it was complicated. Now, be quiet and eat your kettle corn. I want to watch the movie," she insisted; gently stroking the unidentifiable pink stuffed animal in her lap and intently watching Dorothy skip down The Yellow Brick Road(&).

Haruhi glared at her daughter for a moment. "As you wish, Fujioka-sama," she replied dryly, making sure each word she spoke just screamed "sarcasm". She munched her kettle corn as loudly as possible, as a manner of revenge, I suppose.

Ko giggled again. This childish side of her mother's was terribly enjoyable. So enjoyable, that Ko sometimes even found the word "moe" squealing out from insider of her when Haruhi acted so childishly. In such instances, Haruhi would get embarassed (and somewhat frightened) and hide herself from Ko behind a pillow.

The two watched movies until 2:00 a.m. By then, Haruhi had become annoyingly enthusiastic and bouncy and Ko just wanted to tie her up and lock her away in a closet somewhere far away. The reason they stopped watching movies wasn't because it was late. In fact, the two had intended to stay up late so they would be really tired the next morning and Tamaki would be forced to make breakfast for them. (Fufufufu...) The reason they stopped watching movies was because the power went out.

As the lights began to flickering on and off, Ko remembered something she had meant to say earlier. "Oh, yeah, Mama. I heard on the weather channel this morning that a storm is coming."

Haruhi was about to reply when the TV flashed off. Haruhi, rendered annoyingly paranoid by her knowledge of the oncoming storm, mistook the TV flashing off as a flash of lightning, and let out a shrill yelp. She immediately clung to Ko, her entire body shaking like a thin, slender tree would be shaken by the wind.

Ko sighed. "Mama, that was just the TV." Living with Haruhi for 13 years, she had obviously picked up on Haruhi's astraphobia and had gotten used to her mother's yelping and clinginess. But, she never found her mother's single fear any less adorable. It always gave her a great sense of bittersweet delight to see her mother scared. She kissed Haruhi on the head lightly and said, "Come on, let's go to the basement."

In these kinds of situations, Ko became the mother, and Haruhi became the helpless daughter. This fact gave Ko a great sense of bittersweet delight (once again). She wrapped her arm around her mother's shoulder, and helped Haruhi slide carefully off the bed. Haruhi was shaking terribly so Ko had to wrap both her arms around her to keep her up while they walked to the basement.

When they reached the stairway to the basement, Ko took the first step, making sure her grasp on her mother's hand was tight and secure. Then, she slowly helped Haruhi to take a step herself. Haruhi was hesitant to take the step and refused to do it at first. But, the thunder rumbled and the lightning flashed. And Haruhi, trembling to an unhealthy extent, followed Ko's guiding movements. Slowly and carefully, the two proceeded down the rest of the steps. When they finally made it to the bottom, Haruhi walked around the stairway to a living room like space and sat down on the worn gray couch. Ko made sure Haruhi made it all the way to the couch, and then she hurried up the stairs and closed the door tightly.

Down in the basement, they wouldn't hear the thunder or see the lightning. When Ko was about 5 years old, she had thought of this idea during a storm and had brought Haruhi down to the basement. And sitting on the cold basement floor with nothing but some moth-eaten nylon sheets, a beat up, old fashioned radio and the warm of Haruhi's body, she thought of another idea. That's why the two were now sitting on furniture, rather than the floor, wrapped in warm, fleece blankets, rather than nylon sheets riddled with holes, listening to the weather on a well-kept, shiny, chrome radio, rather than an old beat radio. The two were also accompanied by a soft, lulling light that poured out from the blue lattern set on the coffee table in front of them.

They listened to the radio for about an hour, Haruhi laying limply, half-asleep, in Ko's arms. As Haruhi was about to drift off to sleep, the lights flickered on. They heard an array of strange whirring noise from upstairs, which Ko deduced were most likely the alarm clocks, stove, microwave, cable box and VCR/DVD player all coming back on. "Well, the power's back on, ne?"

Haruhi nodded slowly. She knew Ko would want to go back upstairs now that the power was back on. But, Haruhi was still scared. Just because the power was back on didn't mean the storm had passed. Despite her fear, she forced herself to stand. But, as she wobbled her way towards the stairway, instead of hearing Ko following her, she heard Ko giggling. This obviously caused her to swing around and look at her daughter as seriously as possible. Though, at the moment, she was still shaken and embarassed that her daughter would laugh at her, so instead of looking serious, she looked like she was about to cry. "Ko-chan!" she cried in dismay, under the impression that her daughter was picking on her.

Ko's giggle became more of a deep, menacing, somewhat manly chuckle at this point, as she rested her hands on her stomach, and leaned her head back over the edge of the couch, bonking her head on the wall. She stayed this way for at least 10 minutes, Haruhi staring at her coldly. Finally, she stopped laughing, and collected herself. She looked up at her mother, a grin still on her face. "Mama, we dont' have to go back upstairs." It was here that her face obtained a serious expression. Ko stood up, and walked over to her mother, who she hugged tightly about the waist. "We can stay down here, Mama. So, please, smile for me. I don't like that scared-half-to-death look on your face," she explained this to Haruhi in a cool, compassionate voice.

A tiny smile made it's way onto Haruhi's face. She returned the embrace, wrapped her arms gently around Ko's shoulders. "I'm glad for this "Ko-chan and Okaa-chan" Bonding Time," she said simply, running her hands through Ko's long honey-nut hair.

This made Ko giggle. "I haven't called you Okaa-chan since I was an infant. I'm much more sophisticated now. This here is "Ko-chan and Mama" Bonding Time," she corrected her mother, failing to reach her mother's hair. She wanted to run her hands through her mother's hair, but, she couldn't quite reach her mother's head. Suddenly, her expression lost all signs of compassion, and a frown set over her face. "Mama! I can't reach your head!" she demanded, trying to pull away from her mother.

Haruhi was somewhat shocked, but, she giggled nonetheless, and obeyed her daughter. She let go of Ko, took a step back, and dipped her head some. Ko smiled, very pleased with herself, and began to run her hands through Haruhi's hair. Haruhi giggled nervously when her neck began to ache. She saw the look on Ko's face, and knew that Ko was very much enjoying herself. She couldn't just tell the poor thing to stop. So, despite the pain, she kept her neck bent so Ko could continue. Though, after a time, the pain became unbearable. "Ko!" Haruhi screamed suddenly.

Ko hopped back a good few feet. "Y-yes, Mama?" she replied, her hands trembling.

Haruhi lifted her head, giggling. "Ko, did I startle you? I'm sorry, dear."

Ko frowned. "Of course you startled me. Why on Earth did you think it was ok to scream like that!?" she demanded, her hands planted tightly on her mother's shoulders.

Haruhi's shoulders began to ache, and she pulled away from Ko. "Well..that was just...well...my neck...it's just..." Haruhi fumbled over her words. She didn't want to tell Ko her neck had hurt. Because, really, it felt nice when Ko ran her hands through her hair. Ko was known to act irrationally, and Haruhi didn't want Ko to never play with her hair again. She didn't know how to go about this in a way that wouldn't make Ko so emotional.

Ko was becoming irritated. Her eyes began to resemble those of a cat; her pupils appearing to narrow. "Just what? What about your neck?" she demanded, grabbing her mother's chin and pulling her mother's face closer to her hers.

Haruhi shuddered slightly at the sight of Ko's deadly cat eyes. Ko knew how to use Tamaki's puppy dog eyes to manipulate people, and she invented her own deadly cat eyes to scare the hell out of people. Though, so far, these eyes only succeeded at scaring Tamaki. Instead, these eyes disgusted people. Including Haruhi. "Ko, please, enough with those eyes," she pleaded, trying to turn her head away, but to no avail.

Ko snickered malevolently, her grasp on Haruhi's chin tensing. "No, Mama. I only will if you just tell me," she demanded.

Ko's hold on her head caused great pain in Haruhi's neck. Which made her think about why exactly she was in this position. The harsh reality of the situation made her sigh. She felt so stupid. Her mind returned to the deadly cat eyes staring at her and she shuddered again. "K-ko, please. I'll tell you if you just stop it with the eyes." Ko's eyes returned to normal in an awkward motion that sickened Haruhi further. But, despite the odd feeling she felt in her stomach, she proceeded to tell Ko why she had screamed at her.

Another _typical_ night in the Fujioka household.

"Ne, Mama? If "explain" is a word, shouldn't "implain" be a word? I bet it is a word, and they just aren't telling us. Since "explain" means to make something understandable, then, "implain" must mean to understand. Ne, ne?" Ko insisted, grabbing onto Haruhi's shirt as they watched TV together.

Haruhi's forehead wrinkled and she grimaced to express her disapproval, removing Ko's hand from her shirt. "No, Ko-chan. That's ridiculous. Besides, since when did you become a terminologist?"

Another _**typical **_night in the _lovely_ Fujioka household.

**Ampersand-Land**

(&)"and intently watching Dorothy skip down The Yellow Brick Road." This means that Ko-chan and Haru-chan were watching the Wizard of Oz. I just thought I should clear that up.

_**Blissful:**_ So, uh, here's Chapter 3. It's in two parts because I couldn't seem to bring myself make one whole good sized chapter of the date. So, to make up for it, I made it a two part chapter, Part 2 describing a typical night in the Fujioka household. That last part with the whole "implain" thing was a thought that was actually bothering me at the time. I thought it was funny. :3


	5. Breakfast Gone Awry

**Chapter 4 - Breakfast Gone Awry**

"But, Mama! I don't wanna get up!" Ko tossed in her blankets to face her mother. Haruhi sighed. Even though it was apparent that Ko was already awake, considering the fact that she was yelling at Haruhi, she continued to shake Ko, as one would to wake someone else up. Ko frowned at this and tossed in her blankets once more, this time to turn her back towards Haruhi and look out the window at the pale orange horizon.

Haruhi frowned in return, and grabbed Ko's side. "Come now, Ko! You need some practice getting up anyway! April Vacation won't last forever, dear!"

"But, Mama! You kept me up last night, you baby! You can't make me get up! That's unfair!" she demanded, flailing her arms all about. She had a terrible habit of curving the last letter of each word she poke when she was tired. She turned her head back towards Haruhi, struggling to make her cat eyes that always creeped out Haruhi. Unfortunately, she was too tired to. Her eyes struggled to stay open. She started tearing up, struggling to keep her eyes open. This led Haruhi to believe that Ko was crying.

"Ah, Ko-chan! You don't need to cry! If you're really that tired, I'll wake you up later..," Haruhi said, feeling bad for making Ko cry. Of course, we all know she didn't really make Ko cry. Ko was just tearing up trying to keep her eyes open. So, obviously, Ko was confused.

"Mama! I'm not crying! I'll get up!" she declared, grabbing the back of her mother's shirt. "I don't wanna miss Tamaki-chan making breakfast!"

Haruhi turned to look at her daughter, and couldn't help but giggle at the look on Ko's face. Ko looked like a poor lost little girl. "Th-the look on your face!" Haruhi shouted.

Ko jumped back in surprise. "W-wha-a-at. a-about. i-it," Ko fumbled over her words, stumbling and pausing between each word.

The surprise mixed into Ko's expression made the look on her face all the more enjoyable for Haruhi. Haruhi bent over and held her stomach, her cheeks growing redder and redder from all this laughter. Even though she was giggling even harder now, the thought, 'It wasn't even that funny!' crossed her mind. When she realized this, she tried to stop laughing. But...ha ha! She...ha ha! Couldn't...ha ha ha! "S-s-st-stop it!" Someone was tickling her.

Ko, who was sitting on the bed at the time, fell off the bed clumsily at the sight before her eyes. Tamaki had somehow snuck into the house and was tickling Haruhi's underarms, and Haruhi was so red in the face, Ko thought her mother's head would explode. Ko couldn't stopped giggling. She rolled over onto her stomach, and slammed her fist against the floor in utter delight. "Mama! You look so silly!!!" By now, all the excitement had fully woken up Ko. So, she no longer curved her letters.

-::-

After the three of them collected themselves they proceeded to the kitchen. When Tamaki sat down, Haruhi let out a little "Pfft!" and sat down next to him.

Ko sat down in the seat on the other side of him. She rested her arm on his shoulder. "Tono." A chill ran up Tamaki's spine at Ko's use of the twins' "pet" name for him. "You're making breakfast."

Haruhi rested her arm on his other shoulder. "That is.." she began. Tamaki froze. "..unless.." His hair stood on end. "...you'd rather leave us poor tired young ladies to make breakfast."

Ko snickered devilishly. "Yes, yes. You wouldn't want to leave such delicate flowers as ourselves to cook for you. That would be **sinful**. We should be left to converse with one another. Being forced to put our fragile little fingers to work would be terrible. And we'd have to keep our lovely, melifluous voices all locked up inside of us. Isn't that right, Mama?"

Haruhi lowered her arm off of Tamaki's shoulder, and pulled herself down to the floor to wrap her arms around his waist. Tamaki's face reddened, and his breathing quickened. "Most certainly. Setting us to work is setting angels to work," she agreed with Ko. Tamaki was about to say something, when Haruhi slid her arms up Tamaki's body, and rested her hands onto his shoulder so her arms were wrapped around his torso. She looked up at him; her large caramel eyes foggy and seductive. "Isn't that right...Tama-chan?"

Tamaki's face was, by now, dangerously red. He lifted Haruhi up off the floor and off of him, and sat her down in a chair. He brushed Ko's arm off his shoulder, and stood up. "Y-yes-s-s, o-o-of c-co-u-u-u-rs-s-se," Tamaki said. He stumbled both over his words and over his feet, as he clumsily made his way to the fridge. He opened it up and looked into it, dumdfounded. As he turned to ask Haruhi what he exactly he was supposed to be doing, he saw her face, and swung his head back around.

"S-so. What am I s-s-s-sup-p-p-pposed to do?" He said, stumbling still. The way she had touched him, the way her eyes had looked, and the way she had called him Tama-chan...even though they were dating now, it was certainly out of character for her. And much too enjoyable to be legal. So, obviously, he was very flustered, and confused.

He wasn't so surprised by Ko's actions. She was much more eccentric than her mother, and Ko mostly just spoke anyway. The only touching Ko performed was resting her arm on his shoulder.

But, Haruhi would never do something like what she had did. And she did it to such an extreme. This confused him. The fact that he enjoyed it so much was what made him so flustered when he looked at her.

Haruhi giggled at Tamaki's flustered behavior, and shaky words and movements. Now that she was dating him, it was suddenly extremely enjoyable to pick on him. She stood up from her seat, and walked slowly towards Tamaki, as a model would walk up the catwalk. She slung her arms over his shoulders, and rested her head on his back gently. "Well, Tama-chan, I think I've picked on you enough. I'll just make breakfast." As enjoyable as it was, Haruhi's common sense told her that maybe she should stop picking on him.

Tamaki was relieved to hear this. Though, Haruhi's out-of-character address of him as "Tama-chan" still befuddled him. But, now that he knew Haruhi was just picking on him (though any normal person would find this fact painfully obvious), he wasn't so flustered. He still enjoyed it, but, he didn't feel intimidated by it. He swung around suddenly, catching Haruhi off guard, and grabbed her chin with his thumb and index finger.

"That would be most favorable. I'd love to eat food made with your lovely delicate hands and gentle loving heart...Haru-chan," he said, with a slick cool tone of voice. Haruhi couldn't help but blush. Tamaki had countered her, and this embarassed her. But, what also embarassed her was how smooth he was. Back in high school, his charms never made her swoon. And they shouldn't have now, because they were dating. But, it did all the same. This fact also embarassed her.

Tamaki smiled to see Haruhi flustered. Just like Haruhi found it enjoyable to pick on him, he found it enjoyable to pick on her. He let go of her chin, and kissed her on the forehead. "You just wanna eat some cereal?" he suggested. He certainly didn't want to make breakfast, and he saw the tired look on Haruhi's face and knew she didn't want to either.

Haruhi smiled at this suggestion. "That would be a wonderful idea," she agreed. Then, suddenly, she remembered Ko. She looked at the table, and quickly noted her daughter's absence. "Ko-chan! Where are you, dear?" she called out as she walked off down the hallway.

Tamaki was left alone standing in the kitchen. "So, do I put the milk or the cereal in first?" he called out down the hallway. No reply came. He sighed heavily. He concluded that Ko must've went outside. So, he decided by himself it would probably be safest to put the cereal in first, to avoid splashing the milk around. He fixed himself up a bowl of cereal, and walked very carefully (as to avoid spilling the milk) out to the living room. He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

By the time Haruhi and Ko got back inside, Tamaki was wrapped in a pink fluffy blanket on the couch, eating his cereal with one of Ko's old tiny baby spoons (which was pink, just like the blanket) and watching some loli-anime. They stood at the entrance of the living room, greatly amused. They stood in silence, however, waiting for him to notice them. But...he seemed so absorbed in the anime.

Haruhi had tried to stifle her laughter, but, she couldn't help but let a giggle out when she saw how wide Tamaki's eyes were as he starred at the TV. Tamaki's head swung around and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "AH! Haruhi!"

Ko nearly collapsed. Haruhi struggled to keep her footing as she held Ko up. Both of them were laughing hysterically. Tamaki was terribly embarassed. His ears reddened, and his cheeks soon followed."S-stop it! You two are so..." It was here he paused and pouted when Haruhi pointed a shaky finger at him.

"HILARIOUS!" Haruhi screamed. She pulled clung her arms around her waist, and fell to the floor. Ko, who had been using Haruhi for support, followed close behind. The two laid on the floor; Ko on top of Haruhi. The two continued laughing until Haruhi, between all this laughing and Ko on top of her, could barely breath. She started coughing, and hastily heaved Ko off of her. Ko, surprised and confused, stopped laughing, and looked at Haruhi worriedly. "Mama?"

Tamaki was worried for Haruhi too. He wiggled out of the blanket, and abandoned his cereal as he rolled off the couch onto the floor and crawled over to Haruhi. He sat down beside her and asked, "Is something the matter, Haruhi?" placing his hand gently on her shoulder.

Haruhi didn't respond for quite some time. Her eyes were closed and she held her stomach as if she would throw up any minute now. Fortunately, she did not. Instead, she yawned, and tipped over into Tamaki's lap. Her eyes blinked open slowly. "Fine," was the only word she muttered, before her eyes closed again.

Ko lifted her finger suddenly. "A-ha!" she exclaimed. Tamaki looked at her in a way that said "What?" She smiled at this. "She's just tired. This kind of thing happens a lot. Usually at night though. You see, Mama gets all hyped up at night, so we usually watch silly movies and end up laughing and falling all over each other. And, of course, sometimes I fall on her, and she almosts suffocates sometimes. It's really scary. She said it was probably because a few of her friends in college smoked excessively and usually 'round her, so she breahted in a lot of second-hand. And, so, since she's tired, she just sort of coughs a few times, and then falls asleep. But, it doesn't happen at night all the time. Sometimes she drinks a lot of coffee in the morning to wake herself up, because you know how she's got a bit of an insomnia problem, and all, and doesn't get much sleep. And then she's all hyper and she'll start laughing for no reason. It's not that I find this funny. It's actually kind of creepy when she does that. But, her laughter is so terribly infectious and I often find myself laughing right beside her and then the same thing happens, I fall on her sometimes, and then she has her coughing fit, and she just sort of falls asleep. In such cases, I have to call in to her work place to tell them she'll be taking the day off. Because later on, she usually gets sick from drinking too much coffee, and throws up. But last night...actually, last night, we were purposely up so you would have to make breakfast because we would be tired. But then, there was that thunder storm and we stayed up later than we expected," she explained thoroughly, and with a quick pace to her voice. It seemed she'd never stop and it was thankful when she finally did.

Tamaki looked at Ko intensely. _Thunder storm._ It stung him to know he couldn't have been there for her last night. "Th-that's..." Then he shifted his gaze towards Haruhi's fragile sleeping face. "...quite a story." He touched her hair gently. "Haruhi's a real trooper, huh?" he commented, looking at her with an enormous amount of compassion in his eyes. There was also a bit of underlying pity. He pitied her, but he did it regretfully. He didn't want to, he just couldn't help it. He hated to hear about how tired she would get. He didn't want to believe that she would be so tired to drink so much coffee to throw up. She was too wonderful a person.

Ko made a sour face and nodded her head reluctantly. "Yeah, I guess she is a hard worker. But, she works herself way too hard. There will be nights that she stays up until four'clock(&) the next day, and I stay up all night listening to her. She makes me want to cry. She's so beautiful, she doesn't deserve this kind of thing. But I don't cry. That'd just worry her more, ne? She really worries me. Sometimes I wish I didn't exist so I wouldn't burden her so much. She wouldn't have to work quite as hard if I wasn't here. She could be more nonchalant about work if I wasn't here."

Tamaki starred at Ko, wide-eyed. "No, Ko-chan. You shouldn't feel like you have to hold back your tears just for Haruhi. She wants more than anything for you to need her. You're certainly not a burden to her. Anything but. She loves you, and she loves being there for you. Ko, you should know that," he said to her soothingly. Hastily, but carefully, he ejected Haruhi from his lap, laying her gently on the floor, and then enveloped Ko in a tight embrace.

"Tamaki-chan," is all Ko could say before her eyes closed and she fell asleep. Tamaki smiled softly to himself when Ko started snoring. He laid her down gently beside Haruhi. "I'll be back..." he whispered to them, before getting up. He took the pink blanket from before off the couch and spread it out over them. He took two long pillows off the couch as well, and tucked them gently and cautiously under their heads. He gave them each a kiss of the forehead.

Strangely enough, his mindset at the moment was '_Commoner breakfasts sure are complicated...'_

**-::-**

**AMPERSAND Land**

(&) I have decided that Ko may have a bit of an accent, so that's why she'll say things like "four'clock" where she skips a letter or two.


	6. Time Skip

**Chapter 6 : Time Skip**

**Author's Note:** _The reason I skipped ahead two years like this is because I have some ideas I want to use, but I can't use them unless I skip ahead a bit. If you want me to go back in time and go over the development and events of Tamaki and Haruhi's relationship (or any other subjects, for that matter) more, than please don't hesitate to say so in your review. I just had some ideas I had to get out, but, to compensate, I named this chapter "Time Skip" because I skipped ahead so much. I suppose it's not the best compensation for my randomosity (Is this even a word?) but, at least I try. Enjoy:3_

It had been about two years that she had been dating Tamaki now, and quite strangely, she wanted to cry. She had a daughter. A beautiful young lady, all her own. And she had a boyfriend. A wonderful (and gorgeous) man, again, all her own. She couldn't have been happier. But, then, why did she wish to cry her withered little heart out? Because, her beautiful young lady no longer lived with her. Her beautiful young lady now lived with her wonderful man. It was strange. She was at work so much; she never really spent time with her daughter. It was the mornings and the evenings that they spent together. Even their time spent together over the weekends was brief and gentle. Very rarely did they spend long, intimate spells of time together.

She was so busy...it was only for the best her daughter go live somewhere else.

Haruhi couldn't bring herself to work. She sat at her desk, staring off into space. She tapped her pen on her desk, fabricating an eerie, hypnotic rhythm into the room. Her eyes were intense with a creeping sorrow and drooping with a tired laziness. The room was dreary and lingering with her gloom and no person had dared to spend over 10 seconds in that room with her.

The reason for her emotional recession?

Well, Ko had recently moved in with Tamaki. Haruhi had been particularly busy with work, recently faced with a huge case concerning something with a new law, and this led to the eventual decision for Ko's moving into Tamaki's home. Haruhi could almost never be home now. She left early in the morning and arrived late at night. After school, Ko was either left alone at home, or much more often, she was with Tamaki.

Since she was so frequently with Tamaki, Ko had practically lived at his house already, so...why was it so troublesome?

The answer to this question was perfectly simple.

This case she was working on had been going on for a good few months before Haruhi decided Ko would move in with Tamaki. During the months preceding her decision, Haruhi would sometimes come home, and find Ko's sweet, sleeping silhouette draped on the couch. In the midst of a sea of daughter-less nights, when Ko slept at Tamaki's house, these nights when Ko was home were like precious jewels hidden deep in the sand at the bottom of the sea. Even more precious were the nights when thunderstorms occurred, and Ko would cradle her in the basement. Haruhi cherished these select few nights, and now, until Ko moved back home, she'd never have these nights again.

That's why it was so troublesome.

She couldn't help herself. Her emotional recession finally tumbled into a abyss of depression, and she started crying. She fell out of her chair onto the ground and, sprawled lazily across the floor, she started crying. She gingerly removed the hat from her head, and squeezed it against her chest. For the time being, she needed something to comfort her. And so, for the time being...her hat would be her daughter. _Just for the time being_.

"Just for the time being..." she mumbled, trying to reassure herself. "Only for a little while..."

She squeezed the hat harder against her chest. "Isn't that right...Ko-chan?" She winced. A clump of mucus accumulated in her throat and stifled her breathing for a moment. Her cheeks were burning hot. Their intense redness could have easily stained the carpet she was laying on, hadn't she turned over onto her back, and starred at the ceiling. "Only for a little while..."

But, despite all this self-reassurance, she still broke.

She cleared her throat, and tried her best to clear her head before she took her cellphone and called her boss.

"Ms. Mikomura..," she began, still clutching her hat to her chest. "Ms. Mikomura...I'm not feeling well. I'm going home early."

---------

Meanwhile, Ko was having a breakdown herself. And of course, Ko's over-emotional demeanor could only lead to a breakdown ten times worse.

She was still in school at the time. It was just after lunchtime. Her stomach felt sour and bitter. Her throat burned, as if she had recently swallowed a bag of coarse rocks. Her nose was stuffy with mucus, and her head throbbed with a terrible sinus headache. But, the most painful feature about her was her eyes. They were bloodshot, as if they had been crying blood. This was because she had been sobbing uncontrollably all throughout lunchtime, locked up in one of the stalls in the girl's bathroom.

Why?

Simple. She missed Haruhi.

In the past few months of Haruhi's big case, she had even more rarely seen her mother than Haruhi had seen her. And, being a much more over-dramatic person, and a child, making her all the more fragile, Ko took it much worse than her mother. Today wasn't the first day she had done something like this.

Yesterday, and the day beforehand, she had locked herself away in a bathroom stall and sobbed until the bell rang. No matter how much she loved Tamaki, she couldn't help but love Haruhi ten times over. Being away from her mother was hard...

She went home that day with her eyes puffy and red.

---------

She went home that day clutching her hat. It was 4:00 when she went home. She got off early. She hadn't taken a personal day throughout this entire case, and, as she was permitted at least two, she felt the need to take one of them that day.

Haruhi got in her car and, crying the whole time, drove to Tamaki's house. She needed to see Ko (and she needed to throw up.)

---------

When Ko arrived home, Tamaki was waiting eagerly at the front door. Having Ko live with him was like having a daughter. It was so delightful! He loved watching anime with her, and dressing her up in cute clothes, like he would have liked to have dressed Haruhi in.

He was waiting to meet with a pair of happy, lilac eyes, just waiting to be dressed in a large variety of frilly, chiffon dress, and lovely golden jewelry, with jewels of every cut and color. But, instead, Ko walked up the large steps, and met Tamaki at the top, her lavender eyes watery and bloodshot.

"Tamaki-chan…" She noted his presence lightly, before passing by him into the house.

Tamaki could immediately tell something was amiss, and followed after Ko.

"Ko-chan, wait!" he called out. He eventually caught up with her, and hugged her, to keep her from walking away any more.

"Ko-chan, what's the matter?"

Ko averted her eyes, shifting them towards the chandelier hanging above them. She didn't want to be smothered by Tamaki at the moment. So, she changed the subject.

"Your chandelier is really lovely, Tamaki-chan."

Tamaki's eyes shot up towards the chandelier. He let go of Ko, and walked a few steps forward to get a closer look at it.

"Why, yes, it is quite lovely, isn't it? You know, I think maybe we should get multi-colored light bulbs, though, you know, for parties, and such. Guests would love it!"

He turned around to face Ko.

"But, Ko-chan, it's our chandelier now," he explained to her.

Wait… "Ko-chan? Where'd you go?"

Ko had taken the opportunity to stealthily escape to her bedroom while Tamaki was talking to himself about the chandelier.

Of course, with Tamaki, she knew it wouldn't be that easy to escape. She knew he'd come look for her soon enough, so she put on her pajamas quickly, and then hid herself in her wardrobe (which she didn't use for clothes) on top of a pile of blankets.

Haruhi pulled up to the front of Tamaki's house, and bolted out of her car and up the steps as fast as she could. But, she ran to fast, and bumped her head on the door. The door was carved, with much detail, and, when Haruhi's head hit the door, it hit the sharp edge of a curve in the carving.

"Owwww!" she howled. She recoiled, and fell over, landing on her rear end. As she sat on the ground, wincing from the pain in her rear-end, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted blood trailing down her face. "Oh dear lord," she moaned, as she stood up and staggered towards the door.

"Tamaki! Ko-chan!"

By some work of magic, Ko heard her. Ko, who was four flights of stairs above Haruhi, heard her. "MAMA!" she cried wildly.

She wriggled out of the pile of blankets, and rolled out of the wardrobe onto the floor. Her arm throbbed from the impact, but, she ignored it and pushed herself up off the floor. She hurriedly scurried over to the balcony and leaned out over the railing. She looked down to see her mother at the door.

"MAMA!" she cried out as loudly as she could.

Haruhi's eyes moved slowly from the door, on which she was currently banging, up to Ko's balcony. "Please dear, don't lean over the railing like that!"

She had missed Ko so terribly, but that's all she could bring herself to say.

Ko, tears in her eyes, paid absolutely no attention to what her mother said. Instead, she leaned farther over the railing and reached her arm out towards Haruhi. "I missed you so much!" she called out, withdrawing her arm. "I'll be done in a--," she began to say, before she was suddenly pulled back.

"Ko!?" Haruhi called, confused by Ko's sudden disappearance.

Before she could do anything irrational, Tamaki suddenly popped out onto the balcony. He leaned over the railing and waved to Haruhi. "Hello, dear! I was just making sure Ko didn't fall of the balcony. Sorry if I frightened you," he explained.

Haruhi was about to reply, when she heard some clanging, and then a loud BAM! She turned to the door, and saw it wide open, Ko trembling in the doorway.

"Mama..," Ko whispered, before running at Haruhi, wrapping her in her arms.

But, when she felt something warm and wet dripping onto her head, Ko let go of Haruhi and stepped back. "Ah, Mama! Your head! It's--,"

But, before she could finish her sentence, Tamaki appeared behind her. "BLEEDING! My dearest Haruhi, you're bleeding!"

Before she even knew what was happening, Haruhi was lifted off of the ground by Tamaki. He held onto her as tight as she could and ran into the house as fast as he could. This, in turn, left Ko on the front step by herself. She stood there, by herself, the door wide open.

A maid walked up to her and smiled as pleasantly as she could, considering the irritated expression about Ko's face. "Uh, Fujioka-sama…would you like to come inside?" she inquired, gently resting her hand on Ko's arm.

Ko looked at the maid in a way that said "I most certainly would not! Go away, slut!!" The maid cringed, and stepped back a bit.

But, contrary to what he expression entailed, Ko said "Yes, I would like that."

The maid, still somewhat frightened by Ko's expression, took Ko's arm with a shaky hand and led Ko into the house, making sure to close the door.

As the maid walked away, she looked around her shoulder to see Ko walking up the stairs, mumbling something along the lines of, "Tamaki-chan's a greedy bastard."

**--****TWO HOURS**** LATER--**

"It's settled then!" Tamaki declared, his arm outstretched. He pulled Haruhi into a tight embrace. She returned the embrace and smiled joyfully, although her mind was on other things.

_I wonder where Ko went._

As if on cue, Ko appeared at the doorway. "What's settled?" she inquired, taking a seat on Tamaki's spacious bed. (They were in his bedroom, by the way.)

Tamaki let go of Haruhi, and turned to Ko. "Ah! Well, after today, we've decided that your mother will be moving in here! And, since you two miss each other so much, you'll be rooming in the same bedroom! How great is that?"

Ko because suddenly excited. She jumped up off the bed and nearly pounced on Tamaki. "REALLY!?" she screamed, as she jumped up and down.

Haruhi couldn't help but giggle at Ko's display of joy. Even though she had a different way of expressing it, Haruhi was just as excited as Ko. Not only had she missed Ko, she had been dating Tamaki for two years. It was only appropriate for her to move into his home.

Ah, but then, unfortunately, it wouldn't be just that easy.


End file.
